To be Obedient

1 Samuel 15:22 “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed, better than the fat of rams.” Here we see how upset Samuel was that Saul took matters into his own hands and not follow the right protocol, by choosing to not be obedient to God. This was the beginning of his fall. Had he had respect for God and their traditions and obeyed it, he would have been blessed.

Who Am I - Casting Crowns

Suicide Watch.

The age old question: Can you go to Heaven if you commit suicide?

How will we know? It's not like we can pick up the phone and ask them. Although I cannot conceive that our merciful God will not have any circumstantial clause where we can be forgiven and still go to heaven, I understand that it is a great sin and one the Bible warns us against. I also know that a lot of people have been saved by the bell so to speak, like the murderer who hung on the cross next to Jesus. When he realised Jesus is innocents and took accountability for his own sins with true repentance, God told him that they will be together in paradise that same day. 

Why would you want to take your life? It is so unnatural, that even people who commit premeditated suicide, almost always end up with scratch marks on their necks, hands, or car handles, as evidence that they wanted to quit at the last minute, but wasn't physically capable of doing so successfully.

Striking up a conversation with God - Part 3

Conversing with God - Part 3 - by P.K.Odendaal - 23 June 2011.

The question I wish to ask is - How can we fulfill our obligation towards God to strike up a conversation with Him ?

My view is that we need all the skills we can muster to communicate all these things to God. He wants to know what our problems and aspirations are, how we feel, what we think of Him, what we like, how we adore His creation, how we adore our fellow men, what He can do for us. what do we like and what don't we like and a myriad other things. We need to communicate with Him on all levels.

Chris Barnard wrote a very basic prayer (Prayer for the Earth) by someone he knew, and I repeat and translate it here as best I can :

Striking up a conversation with God - Part 2

Conversing with God - Part 2 - by P.K.Odendaal - 23 June 2011.

1. God wants to talk to us.

This is His main need and the reason why He created Adam and Eve, and it 'made'  His day when he could go to them every evening to talk to them.

Gen 3:8  And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.  v:9  And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? (He is looking for them to hold conversational communion with Him).

2. God wants us to have our own thoughts, ideas, feelings etc.

Striking up a conversation with God - Part 1

Conversing with God - Part 1 - by P.K.Odendaal - 23 June 2011.

Yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir.

This adage is a corruption of the nursery rhyme : Baba Blacksheep, have you any wool?

But, it says so much and has a very subtle innuendo of blaming the person spoken to for being dictatorial in the sense that one cannot do or say anything that undermines his authority - so the most one can do is give him a totally useless reply, confirming one's subordination to him, but saying less then nothing. It is also a veiled accusation of the misuse of power by the person spoken to.

And this is the way some of us talk to God.

Checkmate?

“The King is the most important piece. When he is trapped, his whole army loses. The King can move one square in any direction. The main goal of chess is to checkmate your opponent’s King. The King is not actually captured and removed from the board like other pieces. But if the King is attacked (‘checked’) and threatened with capture, it must get out of check immediately. If there is no way to get out of check, the position is a ‘checkmate,’ and the side that is checkmated loses.”

We all know what the game of chess involves. Now there used to be a painting in the Louvre art museum called "Checkmate", painted by Friedrich Moritz August Retzsch. It is now in private hands after being sold at Christie’s in 1999. This painting depicts 2 chess players, one is satan whom appears arrogantly confident, and the other player is a man who looks forlorn. If satan wins, he gets the man's soul.

Do you have a life verse?

Why should I have one?

Do you have a verse you can recall when you feel discouraged or angry? A verse that can comfort and calm you. A verse that can encourage you to stop looking at the current problem and look at the bigger picture? When God was tempted, what did he do? He quoted scripture! Matthew 4. Shouldn’t you do that too when you feel you can’t carry on anymore? That is why it is so important to know your Bible.

Today when you get discouraged, why not quote a Scripture from the Bible?

Baptism in Water

It is the identification with the Death and Resurrection of Christ . Baptism was ordained to have a unifying effect on members of the body of Christ. Baptism should not be an empty ritual – an outward act carried over from past traditions. 

Baptism should carry meaning and have a positive effect upon the believer. “Being Born Again” is only the beginning of the life in Christ. The words themselves imply a beginning – and growth! Salvation is a process the believer now launched upon. This is the salvation process – being rooted out of this evil world and moved on toward completeness in Christ.

the Blood of Jesus Christ

The phrase "blood of Christ" refers to the Work of Jesus Christ on the Cross. Blood represents judgment - the judgment for our sins while Christ was bearing them on the Cross (His spiritual death). The physical death of the animal in the Old Testament sacrifices is analogous to the spiritual death of Christ. "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." 1 Pet. 2:24

"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2 Cor. 5:21